Supreme Court rules in favour of animator

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled in favour of a Montreal animator in his long-running battle over copyright infringement.

Claude Robinson had already won at the Quebec Court of Appeal, which ruled that the Montreal company, Cinar, had essentially copied his idea for a children’s television show.

Robinson was originally awarded more than $5 million in damages, so Cinar appealed to the Supreme Court, and has now lost.

Robinson created a children’s show concept called The Adventures of Robinson Curiosity in the 1980s that was loosely based on Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe novel.

He sued after seeing a similar show a decade later, called Robinson Sucroe, that went on to become quite popular.

The Supreme Court has ruled by a 7-0 margin that the copyright of Robinson’s original creation had been infringed.

“Claude Robinson was a dreamer. He spent years meticulously crafting an imaginary universe for an educational children’s television show,” Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote on behalf of the court.